Page:Neuroomia.djvu/251

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HE ADDRESSES LARGE AUDIENCES.
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brute creation, and that it was of the highest importance that the more civilized communities should adopt measures for self-preservation against such as these.

It was not, however, till I inquired of him how he would act in the event of another race of people coming to take possession of the land he loved, and to kill or make slaves of the inhabitants, that he appeared to realize the situation as it existed with us. He said that he was forced to admit that in an instance of the kind I had just related, there could be no alternative.

On arriving at Atazatlan, we drove to the palace, and after the usual rest, I began to make preparations for my second lecture. On this occasion, however, I was determined to spare the young ladies the penalty of meditating over the heinousness of war, and also not to give any sketches that might cause them to look upon myself as a savage and criminal, so I chose for my subject, "The Voyages and Adventures of some Great Navigators in Modern Times."

As in Tehana, preparations were made for a large audience, but the attendance far exceeded their calculations, for I afterwards learned there were over thirty thousand persons present, yet there was